Meet the Pastor

Rev. Douglas E. Nelson was officially named Pastor of True Zion Missionary Baptist Church in November 2019 by the former Pastor of 25 years, the late Dr. Major D. Lovett, upon his retirement.  Rev. Nelson officially became Pastor in December 2019.

 

Pastor Nelson is a native of Carson, CA and currently resides in the City of Los Angeles. He and his brother were raised by their mother Gloria N. Nelson in Carson, CA. Pastor Nelson was raised in the Church and was a youth member of Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church, Compton, CA under the Pastoral leadership of Dr. W. Jerome Fisher, who officially ordained Pastor Nelson into Ministry.
 

A scholar and athlete, Pastor Nelson earned a full-ride football scholarship to Oregon State University (OSU). During his time in Oregon, Pastor Nelson worked as a civic and community leader. While in Oregon, Pastor Nelson received his call to ministry in 1994. After graduating from OSU, Pastor Nelson returned to Los Angeles and pursued a career in Philanthropy having worked for several foundations; Amateur Athletic Foundation (LA84), Uni-Health and World Vision to name a few. He also worked for several local elected officials including in high school for then Mayor Tom Bradley and led the faith-based efforts for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Pastor Nelson has also had the pleasure of connecting the faith-based community to politicians and government during the Obama Presidential campaign as well as other local elected campaigns under his faith-based nonprofit, Levitical Network Education Foundation he founded in 2009.

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As enticing the as the political climate was, Pastor Nelson never lost sight of his
spiritual calling and officially started preaching God's word in 1996. In 2005                                                             Pastor Nelson and his wife Shannon joined McCoy Memorial Baptist Church
of Los Angeles under their Pastor Dr. R.A. Williams, Jr., and served there in ministry
and leadership for 15 years.

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Pastor Nelson currently serves in the administration of the National Baptist Convention,                                               USA under President Dr. Boise Kimber, he has also served as the General Secretary for                                         for the Western Baptist State Convention. 

 

Pastor Nelson and his wife Shannon have been married since 2004 and are both active                                                 in ministry and philanthropy. They love to travel and enjoy serving their community                                             together. 

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On November 7, 2021 Pastor Nelson was led by God to change the name of
True Zion MBC to TrueLA Church where the congregation has been serving the                                                     South Los Angeles community for 45 years.